Freecycle...Is It Me?

Cherry_Bomb

I've used freecycle once and never again. I gave away (or was trying to!) a childs bed frame. It was it good condition except for a crayon mark down one of legs. Did state this is the ad. Anyway got lots of responses. Agreed a time and date to pick it up. She was an hour late (didn't have the decency to ring or text) finally turned up and proceeded to tell me she'll take it off my hands for £20. I said no I don't want anything for it. My mistake. She wanted ME to pay HER for it. I literally laughed in her face.
Completely gobsmacked what goes through some peoples heads.

wrightk

have a look on the freebies no spend required board. lots of hilarious stories on there about freecycle. seems to be a lot of white van men picking up stuff from freecycle lately and flogging it. i remember a story on that board about an old lady giving a sob story to a very kind freecycler/mse who was decluttering their house and gave loads of stuff away. bumped into her the next day flogging it all in a car boot...

mttylad

Something to remember, what you are all saying is not Freecycle.

It is the lowlifes that join it to take free stuff.

The aim of Freecycle and other site like it is to keep stuff out of landfill, people can offer stuff for someone to reuse for free, unfortunately becuase they also allow people to post wanteds etc then more join it and only ever take stuff from it and they are not the nicest of people.

You get bad experiences no matter what medium you use, Freecycle, Freegle, freebies no spend required board, ebay, gumtree - wherever.
Such is life, condemning the system just makes it worse.

blossomhill_2

The fact is, if you are offering somethng bulky and want it gone soon, it won't go to someone like me who would have to be sure of a date, organise a friend with a big car or hire a van for a few days' time, it's going to go to the van man who can say "I'll come now" and that van man is very likely going to be a dealer

But even if it goes to a dealer it stays out of landfill, so win, win

I am sure I've had things from tradespeople who wanted to avoid disposal charges, so it's swings and roundabout

To me the person's story is irrelevant, if they can take it to suit me, then they get it, because that is better than me driving it 4 miles (8 miles round trip) to the tip

BillTrac

blossomhill wrote: »

It's to keep items out of landfill.

People make a profit out of keeping things out of landfill every day; skip companies, scrap metal dealers, clothes recyclers, paper pulping companies, car breakers, and some from freecycle

Yes, but you know that is what they are going to do. They don't give you a sob story when you scrap a car etc.:cool:

Hmm71

mttylad wrote: »

Something to remember, what you are all saying is not Freecycle.

It is the lowlifes that join it to take free stuff.

The aim of Freecycle and other site like it is to keep stuff out of landfill, people can offer stuff for someone to reuse for free, unfortunately becuase they also allow people to post wanteds etc then more join it and only ever take stuff from it and they are not the nicest of people.

You get bad experiences no matter what medium you use, Freecycle, Freegle, freebies no spend required board, ebay, gumtree - wherever.
Such is life, condemning the system just makes it worse.

Exactly, it could happen, and I'm sure it does, with things donated to charity shops. Someone comes along and buys it, then flogs it for a profit on ebay or at a boot sale. Not much you can actually do about it.

Coveredinbees!!!!

I have give away some good stuff on freecycle but now there are too many stupid wanted ads. I give everything to local charity shop or ebay for 99p start.

blossomhill_2

I've stopped giving to charity shops because I am sick of overhearing the staff discussing what bargains they got

mttylad

blossomhill wrote: »

I've stopped giving to charity shops because I am sick of overhearing the staff discussing what bargains they got

You mean the staff that volunteer their time, day by day, week by week, year on and get a bargain on a few books?

The charity still gets its donations.

mummybearx

I asked on free cycle for a sewing machine, a lovely local woman replied saying she had one. I picked it up at the arranged time and gave her a bottle of wine as a thank you

She text me a week later to say she had found an old embroidery machine and a box of sewing patterns and threads, picked them up as well and she wouldn't take another bottle as a thank you :rotfl: both machines were Singer machines in full working order, spare needles and everything, I was overjoyed!

We also got a piano for £10 from an elderly couple in Aberdeen. Went up one Saturday to view it (4 hours drive each way) and paid the £10. Back up the following Saturday in my van to pick it up, the lovely woman had a pot of soup on the hob for us with crusty bread, delicious! As we left her home, she shoved the £10 back into my hand and told me to spend it on our upcoming wedding, how sweet! I sent them a huge bunch of flowers as a thank you, and we still email and keep in touch.

I've had nothing but wonderful experiences from free cycle and eBay when collecting. Bought a piano stool on eBay, the seller turned out to be really rather wealthy, he had a Lord title , we took a day trip to his home to collect the stool, and he offered us use of his land to have a picnic lunch ( i had taken sandwiches with us). Yes, he said, just walk to the end of the garden and through the gate to our private beach.... :rotfl: such a lovely man as well!